Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Primis Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:FRST) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 104,500 shares, an increase of 31.4% from the February 28th total of 79,500 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 94,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Insider Transactions at Primis Financial

In other news, Director John Fitzgerald Biagas purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.97 per share, for a total transaction of $99,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 88,469 shares in the company, valued at $882,035.93. This represents a 12.74 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders purchased a total of 12,025 shares of company stock valued at $122,058 over the last three months. 10.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Primis Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FRST. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Primis Financial by 1,066.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,541,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,612,000 after buying an additional 5,066,069 shares during the period. Fourthstone LLC increased its position in Primis Financial by 263.3% during the 4th quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 898,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,471,000 after purchasing an additional 650,820 shares in the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its position in Primis Financial by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 1,051,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,263,000 after buying an additional 106,721 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Primis Financial during the 4th quarter worth $778,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Primis Financial by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 389,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,542,000 after purchasing an additional 47,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.96% of the company’s stock.

Primis Financial Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ FRST traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $9.71. 12,940 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 68,507. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.06 million, a PE ratio of -32.37 and a beta of 0.78. Primis Financial has a 1-year low of $9.52 and a 1-year high of $13.52.

Primis Financial (NASDAQ:FRST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported ($0.65) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.76). Primis Financial had a negative net margin of 2.97% and a negative return on equity of 2.05%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Primis Financial will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Primis Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. Primis Financial’s payout ratio is -133.33%.

About Primis Financial

Primis Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Primis Bank that provides a range of financial services to individuals and small and medium sized businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, NOW, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposits.